on-court standard bearer of \u201cHeat Culture\u201d<\/a> was unafraid of sharing his frustration throughout this season.<\/p>\nSadly for the Heat, the play by Ball and subsequent lower-back injury kept Adebayo from being on the floor until the end to try to earn his team another game and one last chance to make the playoffs.<\/p>\n
Tyler Herro stepped up in Adebayo\u2019s absence and hit big shots and free throws late in the game to keep the Heat alive. Davion Mitchell led Miami in scoring with 28 points on the night. But as was so often the case this season and the last few seasons, it just wasn\u2019t enough.\u00a0\u2014 Nehm<\/p>\n
Jalen Green still shines<\/p>\n
A bright spot for Phoenix \u2014 Green was, at times, a force.<\/p>\n
Green played in just 32 games during the regular season, sidelined for much of the first half with a hamstring injury. He\u2019s still trying to figure out where he fits, and the Suns are still trying to figure out how best to use him. There have been awkward moments. Green needs the ball to be effective, which can lead to overdribbling and questionable decisions. At the same time, Green remains one of the league\u2019s more explosive guards.<\/p>\n
All of that was on display in Tuesday night\u2019s loss. Green hit his first four shots, then he forced a couple. After one miss, he dropped his head while Portland bolted downcourt for an easy dunk. Suns coach Jordan Ott called timeout and stopped Green for a quick conversation near mid-court on the way to the bench.<\/p>\n
But Green, at times, also helped rescue Phoenix. Down 14 in the second quarter, the explosive guard scored 10 points in the final five minutes of the half, pulling the Suns within 65-62. It was the adrenaline burst the home team needed. And it got the crowd back in the game. Green struck again late in the game, knocking down a 3-pointer with 3 minutes left in the fourth quarter to give the Suns a 105-97 lead. He finished with 35 points on 14-of-29 shooting. \u2014 Doug Haller, NBA writer<\/p>\n
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\n At times, Jalen Green dazzled, and disappeared, in Tuesday\u2019s game. (Mark J. Rebilas \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n
Live by the 3, (nearly) die by the 3<\/p>\n
Only one team in the NBA took a greater percentage of their shots behind the 3-point line than the Hornets, who attempted 45.2 percent of their shots from deep this season. Over a large sample size, the Hornets made that work. They shot well enough and hit the offensive glass hard enough to tilt the match in their favor and turn their season around after a 4-14 start. Those tactics, however, were always going to put them at risk in a single-elimination game.<\/p>\n
And they nearly ended up biting the Hornets on Tuesday night. They made just 18 of their 56 3-point attempts, or 32.1 percent, well below their season-long 3-point average of 37.8 percent.<\/p>\n
The Heat went to a zone defense in the fourth quarter and Charlotte couldn\u2019t manage to shoot them out of it, knocking down just 4 of 17 from behind the line in the final 12 minutes of regulation. They recovered in overtime but were very close to never even getting that chance.<\/p>\n
In the regular season, rookie revelation Kon Knueppel led the league in made 3-pointers with 273, while Ball finished second in the category with 272. On Tuesday night, Knueppel went just 2 for 12 from the field, including 0 for 6 from 3. Ball managed to make an impact, but he made only two of his 16 attempts from behind the 3-point line.<\/p>\n
When the Hornets needed a 3 late in the game, Hornets coach Charles Lee chose against putting Knueppel in the game. Coby White bailed them out with a massive 3 to tie the score and force overtime.<\/p>\n
But while the Hornets squeaked out a win, it will be interesting to see how Knueppel bounces back Friday night after a brutal performance and getting benched in his first NBA postseason game.\u00a0\u2014 Nehm<\/p>\n
Suns can\u2019t close \u2014 again<\/p>\n
As the regular season came to a close, Phoenix\u2019s biggest issue was obvious: The Suns struggled to finish games.<\/p>\n
In that sense, Tuesday\u2019s Play-In loss to Portland was fitting. The Suns built a fourth-quarter lead, but they failed to put the Trail Blazers away. With 3:31 remaining, Jalen Green knocked down a 3-pointer to give the Suns a 105-97 lead. The advantage was not insurmountable, but it was comfortable.<\/p>\n
Portland rallied anyway.<\/p>\n
The Suns managed just one field goal the rest of the way, and it came in the final minute. Devin Booker hit Jordan Goodwin on the baseline for a reverse layup. Goodwin was fouled on the play, but missed the free throw. Phoenix led by as many as 11 in the second half, on their home court, playing in front of their home fans, and they couldn\u2019t make it stand.<\/p>\n
Most notably, Booker didn\u2019t make a field goal in the final quarter, missing all three of his attempts. Now the Suns are on the brink of elimination, facing a win-or-else contest Friday night. \u2014 Haller\u00a0<\/p>\n
They are cheering in Chicago<\/p>\n
With the Blazers clinching a playoff spot, the biggest winners Tuesday were \u2026 the Chicago Bulls, who picked up a first-round pick from Portland to complete a 2021 trade. As part of the three-team trade, the Blazers sent Derrick Jones Jr. to the Bulls, along with a lottery-protected first-round pick (through 2028). The Blazers acquired Larry Nance Jr. from Cleveland, while Chicago moved Lauri Markkanen.<\/p>\n
The Blazers, meanwhile, will be left without a first-round pick, but will possibly own Memphis\u2019 second-round pick \u2014\u00a0acquired from Golden State in the Gary Payton II trade \u2014 if it lands between Nos. 43 and 60. \u2014 Quick<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first night of the NBA Play-In Tournament delivered. The Portland Trail Blazers secured their first playoff appearance…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":607917,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,5670,7223,590,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-607916","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-charlotte-hornets","11":"tag-miami-heat","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607916\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/607917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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